The "Okies" and the Migration from the Dust Bowl Regions

	With nowhere else to go, many of the Dust Bowl farmers packed up their belongings and traveled to California, such as the family at left. Many became migrant workers and would have to move from place to place with each planting and harvesting season. In California at this time, there was a shortage of farm workers. This occurred for many reasons. “Among them was a drive by the state to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico and to break the cycle of Mexican laborers depending on public relief when harvest periods were over” (Westphal). Despite the shortage of labor created by these situations, Californians did not welcome the migrant workers of the Dust Bowl.
Californians soon began referring to these migrant workers from the Dust Bowl areas as “Okies,” a term that was meant to be derogatory. The Dust Bowl farmers’ new land of opportunity did not hold as much hope as expected. The desperate farmers and their families had been attracted by “California's temperate climate, a year-round growing season, more diversified crops, and enticed by advertising that promised jobs in the fields” (Westphal). However, it soon became apparent that California was suffering in the Depression as well and that the Dust Bowl farmers were not welcome. Farmers, such as on the right, could see no end to their struggle.
	While in California, many of these farmers lived in “squalid shacks in communities called ditch camps, located on the sides of the road where water ditches ran. Hardly fit for human habitation, ditch camps were filthy and disease-ridden” (“Farmers and the Great Depression”). Between the prejudice they met and the conditions in which they lived in California, the farmers of the Dust Bowl had learned a difficult lesson: the land must be given proper care. However, out of the disaster came hope and new land-friendly farming practices.